X-Men: Days Of Future Past To Screen In 48 Frames-Per-Second?

Peter Jackson isn’t the only director willing to experiment with the controversial 48 frames-per-second presentation. Trusting two sources, AICN is going on record to report that X-Men director Bryan Singer also will release his sequel, Days of Future Past in the realistic-looking format when it reaches theaters next summer.

X:DoFP was shot in HFR and will be released in 48fps,” a source told the site. “The filmmakers played coy because of the negative reaction to the technology when the Hobbit film was released, but love the results and will be standing behind a theatrical release in high frame rate.”

In case you don’t recall, 48fps is a higher-frame rate that guarantees more frames of actual film pass per second, giving the audience a more natural look. The issue, for many, is that our brains have been trained to view television and movies at 24 frames-per-second, so the “reality” created on screen in movies shown at 48 fps lacks the usual detachment or separation we normally attribute to fictional film presentations. To some, it can be jarring. Read Katey’s breakdown of The Hobbit in 48 fps to understand what controversies it created with Jackson began experimenting with the format last December. Then, read Jackson’s defense of the technology.

Now, as with any new tool, technology and the way that it is used can (and should) improve from film to film. I’m no fan of 3D, but the way Alfonso Cuaron uses it to immerse his audience in Gravity is undeniably amazing. Does this mean Singer, as he filmed Days, cracked a code in terms of using the higher frame rate to bring his on-screen mutants to life?

Oddly enough, the 48fps discussion isn’t the only frame-rate conversation swirling around Singer’s Days of Future Past at the moment. Speaking with io9 about his swift-moving mutant hero Quicksilver, actor Evan Peters explained that they’re filming his at 3,600 frames per second to make him appear like he’s moving rapidly while everyone else is standing still.

It's super, super, super, super slomo. You can see raindrops frozen in the air. Stuff like that. It's amazing how that camera works.”

We don’t have official box-office statistics verifying is audiences turned out for Jackson’s The Hobbit in 48fps. There were so many formats to choose from – 2D, 3D, IMAX, 48 frames – so while the movie crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide, we don’t know whether that particular format drew more eyeballs. X-Men will be available in all of those formats, as well, so it might be hard to see with this film if audiences gravitate toward it yet. But if directors keep choosing to work with this frame-rate format, I think it can only improve from year to year, and from film to film.